Part 74 (1/2)

Chapter 16

Wednesday, December 9 New York

The late afternoon pace of the City Room at the Times tended to be chaotic As deadlines approached and the paper was laid out for the printers, the flurry of activity was associated with an increase in the loudness of the rooht ear and the phone so aardly pressed between his left ear and shoulder that his glasses sat askew on his face Suddenly hanging up the phone, Scott sprung up shout- ing, ”I got it” Several people stopped and stared in his direction, but seeing nothing of concern or interest to thee fro, I got it Confir stopped his red pencil mid-stroke

”Give it to me from the top” He turned in his swivel chair to face Scott o Sovereign Bank in Atlanta found that someone had entered their central computers without per for the card It said that the hackers had found a hole to crawl through undetected into their co hoas done? They left a Coine the bank freaked out and told their computer people to fix whatever it was They called in the FBI, that's froood ol'

boys don't trust nobody,” Scott added sounding like a poor imita- tion of Andy from Mayberry

”Anybody that could spell computer was suspect and they turned the place upside down Found grass, cocaine, ludes, a couple of weapons and a lot of people got fired But no state secrets

You talk about a dictatorshi+p,” commented Scott on the side

”There's no privacy at all They scanned everyone's electronicat invasion of privacy suits from employees and ex-employees ere fired because of the contents of their private ed the coether Nothing They found nada

So they tighten the reins and give away less passwords, to less people That's all they figured they could do”

”This is where the fun starts” Scott actively gestured with his hands as he shi+fted weight to his other foot ”A few days later they discover anotherlike, 'sorry Charlie' or so to that effect The hackers were back And this time they wanted to sell their services to the bank For a nominal fee, say, a million bucks, we'll show you how to sew up the holes”

”Well, what does that sound like to you?” Scott asked Doug

”Extortion”

”Exactly, and ape-shi+t doesn't begin to describe what the bank did Bottom line? They made a deal We'll pay you a ree to stay out of the machines unless we need you Im said with rapt attention

”Sovereign bank now has three fourteen year old consultants at a hundred grand a year,” Scott said choking with laughter on his words

”You're kidding,” exclai his knees

”No shi+t And everyone is pretty happy about it The kids have a way to pay for a good college, they're bright little snots, and they get off The bank figures it's otten off cheap It woke theo down for a month Or if they lost all their records Or if soer a panic attack in any bank exec They'd rather deal with the kids

”In fact, they're turning it into a public relations coup Dig this,” Scott knew the story like the back of his hand ”The bank realized that they could fix their security problems for a couple ofbillions So they design a new ad can The Safest Your Money Can Be”

”Now that's a story,” said Doug approvingly ”Important, fun, human, and everyone comes out a winner A story with a moral

Confirmed?”

”Every bit From the president They announce it all to Exclusive”

”Why? What did you have to do?”

”Nothing He likes the e've been doing on the coive it fair coverage I think they're handling it like absolute gentlemen”

”How fast do you type?”